Traffic accident or dumping? - Striking results of a traffic accident reconstruction

Abstract

An atypical traffic accident scenario should be investigated directly at the crash site from all concerned professions, especially police men, forensic pathologists and technical experts, to get a personal overview and impression of the situation and the opportunity for interdisciplinary discussion. We present the rare case of a fatal traffic accident on a German motorway which was initially thought to be an accidental discovery of dumping a corpse. Based on autopsy findings, the technical investigation and the accident reconstruction, this case was solved as a spectacular form of a collision between a pedestrian and a bonnet-front car, which was not described elsewhere in scientific literature to the best of our knowledge. The pedestrian was hit in an upright body position, was lifted up by the car, smashed the windscreen and flew over the car with several body rotations. His flight curve ends directly at the roof of the car during brake processing, where the body touched the roof, smashed the rear-window and landed in the trunk. Based on the technical investigation, the driver of the car was not able to hide the accident. However, the pedestrian could have avoided the collision if he did not cross the motorway on foot.

Keywords: Dumping; Pedestrian; Reconstruction; Traffic accident.